A Quiet Break
Posted on Thu Feb 13th, 2020 @ 10:00pm by
Mission:
Episode 02: "Samaritan"
Location: Primary Sickbay, USS Vesta
Timeline: Mission Day 01, TBD Hours
ON: [[Primary Sickbay, USS Vesta, Mission Day 01, TBD Hours]]
Harlow watched the readout on the bio bed intently, intermittently stopping and making small adjustments. One final check to make sure all vital signs were stable before she headed back toward the offices to update the patient records again. It was mindless busy work that could easily have been left to the nurses, but Harlow enjoyed keeping herself busy.
Walking into the office, she cast a quick smile at Kas and set the PaDD on the desk in front of him. "Our guest is still resting peacefully."
The young Trill let out a relieved sigh. It had been a long shift, made longer still by the amount of time he and Lieutenant Rolfe had spent in surgery. Caring for a patient, especially one from a previously unknown species, was the kind of unexpected experience many hoped for when they signed up to join Starfleet. However, that didn't make the effort any less tiring. They'd managed to treat most of the major injuries and address the cosmetic damage. Now it was just a matter of waiting to see what happened.
"Thank you, Doctor..." Kas began. He paused mid-sentence, one hand on the corner of the PADD that had just been delivered to him, and shook his head. For whatever reason, he was suddenly drawing a blank on his colleague's name.
"I'm sorry, lieutenant," he told her, offering an apologetic smile, "It's been a long day. Could you remind me of your name?""
"Launceston," Harlow replied with a smile. "Harlow Launceston. It's okay, most people don't remember my name, but the hair is kind of hard to forget," she said, pointing to the vibrant light purple hair. "Everything's quiet at the moment, I was going to get a hot chocolate. Do you want something from the replicator?"
"A hot chocolate sounds nice."
"Of course," Harlow moved to the replicator, ordering two hot chocolates, and then on a whim adding a request for a plate of chocolate covered cookies. Carrying them back to the desk, she set the cookies down first before handing his mug across to him.
Kas smiled appreciatively as she handed him the drink. "Thank you," he said. Setting aside the PADD, he grasped the mug with both hands, allowing the warmth to radiate through and relax his muscles. Already, it seemed to make a difference. "I really am sorry about the name," he continued after a moment, "I'm usually much better at remembering things like that."
"It's okay, honestly, most people forget my name, so I'm used to it and I definitely didn't take any offense, I promise." She picked up one of the cookies and nibbled off one corner of the rectangular shaped treat. "Are you okay?" she finally asked softly. "You look... stressed."
"I'm fine," he said automatically. Kas avoided making eye contact and instead stared at the hot chocolate, almost as if he were looking right through it, as he tried to collect his thoughts. They didn't seem to want to cooperate. Part of him felt...strange...knowing it was that obvious to her that he was out-of-sorts. The long shift and major surgery notwithstanding, Kas was usually pretty good about keeping his energy and his spirits up. Today's events, though, had left him feeling a little drained. "I mean..." he added, "I'm no engineer, but warp core breaches are supposed to be pretty serious. I'm thinking we got off easy today."
"We were lucky, it could have been much worse..." Harlow started dipping the cookie into the hot chocolate, watching the chocolate start to soften before picking it up and biting off the end. She was about to reply again when one of the nurses appeared in the doorway behind her. "Lieutenant, our guest is starting to wake up."
Harlow offered her thanks to the nurse before turning back toward Kas, offering a heavy sigh as she stared at the hot chocolates in front of them. "Well, so much for a break," she said with a soft laugh. "I guess we should notify the Captain and Security before he fully wakes. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Agreed," Kas said.
OFF
Lieutenant Harlow Lunceston, MD
General Physician
USS Vesta (NX-94200)
Lieutenant JG Rojan Kas, MD
General Physician
USS Vesta (NX-94200)
